User equipment (UE), such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, etc. are increasingly equipped with both WLAN (e.g. Wi-Fi) and 3G (UMTS, LTE) cellular radio (WWAN). A multi-radio UE may connect to Internet over WLAN whenever it is available, and switch to WWAN when performance degradation over WLAN is detected or WLAN is less beneficial for other reasons.
Peak and average data rates and round trip delay times in Up- and in Downlink can significantly differ and/or fluctuate while using these two wireless technologies. During handover scenarios from Wi-Fi to Cellular, a typical Wi-Fi connection such as 802.11g delivers up to 54 Mbps peak data rates over-the-air compared to a typical 3G Rel-7/Cat-14 data rate of 21 Mbps in theory. In reality data rates of 15-20 Mbps on Wi-Fi vs. 5 Mbps on 3G can be seen on TCP/IP throughput level. This data throughput gap in handover scenarios from Wi-Fi to Cellular can result in user experience degradations (audio and/or video stalled or entirely disappeared) during the duration when data flow is given to Cellular until coding rate adaption on application layer was able to compensate.
During mobility scenarios while being on Cellular, the currently achieved throughput and packet delays in uplink and downlink can vary depending on many different factors such as 3g coverage areas, cell load, HSDPA serving cell change, HSDPA/HSUPA (E-DCH) network/cell capabilities, etc. Round trip delays in the Cellular network can vary and depending on the network and signal conditions in the network exceed the maximum what is required to send/receive audio calls or video calls (audio+video).
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method, system, and computer program product that addresses one or more of the issues discussed above.
In an aspect of this disclosure, a method for identifying network congestion in a communication system. A connection manager identifies a number of packet delay times of a plurality of data packets within the communication system; determines whether the at least one packet delay time meets a threshold; and responsive to the at least one packet delay time meeting the threshold, adjusts a congestion indicator.
In an aspect of this disclosure, a system is provided for identifying network congestion in a communication system. The system comprises a user equipment configured to identify a number of packet delay times of a plurality of data packets within the communication system; determine whether the at least one packet delay time meets a threshold; and responsive to the at least one packet delay time meeting the threshold, adjust a congestion indicator.
In an aspect of this disclosure, a computer program product comprising logic encoded on a tangible media for identifying network congestion in a communication system. The logic comprising instructions for: identifying a number of packet delay times of a plurality of data packets within the communication system; determining whether the at least one packet delay time meets a threshold; and responsive to the at least one packet delay time meeting the threshold, adjusting a congestion indicator.